Dips

Thursday, March 19, 2015

The Sonny Saga, Volume I

Team President
Steve Danzansky

In October,
1978, the Diplomats were purchased by Madison Square Garden Corporation, a
subsidiary of Gulf & Western. The visionary at the helm of MSG was Sonny
Werblin, who had developed a reputation for having the Midas touch after
decades of success in the business world. Just 26 months later, in December,
1980, Werblin pulled the plug on the Dips and the franchise folded.

Over a
series of four posts entitled “The Sonny Saga,” this blog will look back at what lead to MSG purchasing the franchise to its ultimate demise under Werblin’s
watch. This first post will deal with the chaotic end to the 1977 season and
conclude with the purchase by MSG.

As the
Diplomats prepared for the 1977 season, management pondered a major change in
venues. For the previous three seasons, the franchise had slowly built a loyal
fan base while playing at Woodson Stadium, a high school field in suburban
Virginia. Newly hired general manager John Carbray and team president Steve
Danzansky decided the time was right to move all home games to Robert F.
Kennedy Stadium, in southeast Washington, D.C.

Local soccer
demographics revealed encouraging statistics that made such a move logical. 45,000
local youths were playing soccer in organized leagues located in Northern
Virginia and Maryland. This mass of potential customers would become larger
when parents were taken into consideration. League wide, attendance had risen
34.7% from 1975 to 1976.

That
optimism would be short lived. Viollet was fired after a 6-9 start, and the
team finished 10-16. In their analysis at seasons end, The Washington Post’s
Donald Huff and John Feinstein were brutally honest in their assessment. “The
1977 soccer season, which started with high hopes from the Dips, has ended in
total failure. Mediocre players were signed, although good ones were available.”

The news was
not as disheartening at the turnstile, but rather a mixed bag. “With their
10-16 record, the Diplomats easily broke their attendance records, drawing an
average of 13,058 per game…although many tickets were given away or sold at
discount prices.” A September, 1979, article stated that during the ’77
campaign, “less than half of… (those) tickets were paid for.” Huff and
Feinstein concluded, “On the field, the team has gone backwards this season.
Turning it in the right direction is going to be a difficult task.”

Yet, the
organization did just that. In the fall of 1977 Gordon Bradley was hired as the
Diplomats third head coach. He came with a reputation as a proven winner with a
tireless work ethic. When Bradley was announced as the team’s new coach, it was
regarded as “the first move the Dips made in months that was applauded by
soccer people not only here but around the league.” An NASL insider stated, “If
Gordon Bradley can’t get the job done in Washington, then there probable isn’t
anyone who can.”

Bradley got
the job done. The Dips won their first 5 matches and eight of their first 10,
exponentially increased their offensive production (scoring 55 goals as opposed
1977s total of 31), and made the playoffs, losing a sudden death heartbreaker
to the Portland Timber. One would think that team management would have been
jubilant.

A prominent
headline in the July 29, 1978, Washington Post sports section announced, “Dips
Confirm Heavy Loss, May Be Sold.” The adjoining article detailed how the team
had amassed financial losses of more than $500,000 for the second straight
year. Despite the overall upgrade of on-field personnel, despite the vastly
improved offense, despite the fact that the team was a winner and obviously playoff
bound, attendance had dropped an average of roughly 2,000 persons per game.

The 1978 Dips are introduced before a home game at RFK Stadium.

Team
President Steve Danzansky confessed he was “baffled” by this reversal. It was
disclosed, however, that management had drastically reduced the number of
complimentary tickets provided during the 1977 season. This was a calculated,
and sound, business decision aimed at determining genuine fan interest. “Our
expenses were higher this season (1978) but we have a much better team,”
Danzansky explained to The Post. Optimistically, he noted that paid attendance
had doubled since the previous season.

Speculation
about the team’s financial status swirled the remainder of the summer and into
early fall. On October 5, 1978, news broke that Madison Square Garden Corp
(MSG) had purchased the franchise for $1.5 million (roughly $5.4 million in
2015). MSG was chaired by Sonny Werblin, who helped the American Football
League take on and merge with the NFL a decade earlier.

MSG was a
subsidiary of Gulf & Western, whose eight groups of companies made upwards
of $4 billion in sales the previous fiscal year (Roughly $14.3 billion in
2015). It was, in Werblin’s words, “in the business of purchasing sports
franchises and operating them.” Steve Danzansky would remain as team president,
and both he and his father Joseph were “substantial minority investors.”

A letter of
agreement, signed by the Dips, MSG Corp and the DC Armory Board, which over saw
RFK Stadium, stated that the team would stay in Washington for at least 5
years, with options to extend the team’s lease at RFK for 15 years.

At the
October 6 press conference introducing the new owners, Werblin stated MSG
wanted “to make the Diplomats the best soccer team in the world as soon as
possible.” He continued, “I can assure you, that whatever we decide, Gordon
Bradley will be in charge of putting this team together.” The two were friends
when Bradley coached the Cosmos, so much so that Werblin referred to Bradley as
his “soccer mentor.” Publicly, Werblin was saying everything the D.C. soccer
community wanted to hear. There may have been more in what he was not saying.

Originally,
Werblin envisioned buying the Diplomats and moving them to New York’s Shea
Stadium to compete against the Cosmos, who played at the Meadowlands in
northern New Jersey. The Cosmos demand of a $12 million indemnity fee and the
desire of the NASL to have a team in Washington kept this plan from becoming
reality. This revelation would later serve to cast Werblin, in the words of
Washington Post columnist Dave Kindred, as a “pinstriped carpetbagger.”

Team President Steve Danzansky presents Sonny Werblin with a ceremonial Dips jersey. After receiving number 79, Werblin would 86 the team within two seasons.

Next time in "The Sonny Saga," mixed messages add up to a firm confirmation of a definite maybe regarding the Diplomats long term status in Washington, or as an entity.

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Growing up in the DC area during the 70s, the Dips were the only game in town during the summer months. Their evolution from playing at a suburban Virginia high school to RFK Stadium was both exciting and maddening from a fan's point of view. No other team would send players to local malls trying to drum up an audience. Yet the players who made these appearances were always friendly and glad to talk to a kid who idolized professional athletes.